The Dark Knight Rises: An Epic Conclusion to an Amazing Film Series

I’m not sure where this would fall on the list but I suppose it would be at the third spot, which would cause all others behind it to move down a notch. Last night, I saw the most incredible film that I have ever seen. I thought that I would enjoy The Dark Knight Rises, but I never imagined that a film could be quite as satisfying, entertaining, enlightening, and complete. Considering the track record that films have by the time the third act gets made, and how it usually is a bit of a letdown, I was amazed at the result.

Taken as a whole, I have come to the conclusion that the Christopher Nolan Batman films must be viewed in their entirety in order to fully embrace all that they have to offer. It began back in 2005 with the revamp of the series in Batman Begins. Here, Nolan reintroduced the character to the mass audience and developed the concept of Batman operating in a real world, realistic setting. Prior to that, the world of the films was fantastical at its best (Batman-1989) and over the top campy at its worst (Batman & Robin). While the Tim Burton take on the character in 1989 was the best effort at that point, and in my opinion, it was still somewhat apart from reality. The world Burton created couldn’t actually exist, and it was so immersed with the dark, gothic overtones that you have to wonder what would possess anyone to actually want to live there.

Nolan, by contrast, sets his Gotham City in a realistic way. He knows what common features all cities have that brings people to them and makes them wish to make their lives there, and he makes sure that he incorporates those themes into his world. The world that Nolan created is no less corrupt or free of violence than any other take on the character, but it is believable in the sense that what you watch could be happening in any city in this country.

Watching the Nolan Batman Trilogy is like watching a classic opera unfold before your eyes. The first act (Batman Begins) sets up the series by introducing the characters, explaining their motivations, and showcasing the world in which they live. The second act (The Dark Knight) puts these characters through a meat grinder and pushes the limits as to what they can achieve. The Dark Knight took the world that Nolan created and pushed it to its breaking point, and like all good opera’s, act three (The Dark Knight Rises) breaks the world in two in an effort to bring closure to the piece as a whole.

In the Dark Knight, Bruce Wayne is brought to the breaking point, mentally, as he is faced with a madman that cannot be rationalized, reasoned with, or scared into submission. The loss of his one true love, Rachel Dawes, and the one ally he had in this crusade, Harvey Dent, tested Wayne mentally to the point of breaking. In the end, Batman becomes the enemy, rather than a symbol of hope.

In Rises, he faces this test once again, but now in the character of Bane, he is tested physically as well as mentally, and is broken. What remains is then, is a chance for redemption. Wayne must redeem himself in order to save his city from the chaos that it falls into by Bane’s hands, and by doing so, redeem not only himself, but restore Batman to the symbol of hope that can inspire his city to better itself.

In spite of all the evil that is around him, Wayne believes that his city is worth saving, that the people, as a whole are good, if they would be only shown the way, and he is prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice in order to show his city the greatness that lies within itself.

It really isn’t surprising that the films work so well. Under the careful directon of Chris Nolan and his crew, performances by some of the most talented performers working today shine through. Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Anne Hathaway, Marion Cotillard, Gary Oldman, Liam Neeson, Christian Bale, Thomas Hardy, Heath Ledger, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and many many more make up the world with which we watch. All promise and all deliver, tenfold.

Taken, as an individual movie, The Dark Knight Rises is quite satisfying. It grips the viewer, holds their interest throughout, and makes an epic conclusion. (A conclusion, by the way, that I believe rivals the one in the Avengers for the most epic in movie history). The Nolan film series, taken as a whole, is simply, the best film series, bar none, in movie history. All the films promised, and delivered, and by the time it was over, left the viewer completely satisfied. You cannot ask for more than that. 

A Tempered View Of A Tragic Event

It’s been awhile since the last posting but I really haven’t been able to come up with anything interesting to write about. Then, yesterday happened.

It’s interesting to see how people react to tragic news. Many are sad, shocked, or simply numb from hearing about the situation and yet others have a completely different view on things.

Mentioning the horrific event in Colorado would be fruitless simply because many of you already know what happened. But what I find disheartening is how some people can take something like that, and turn it into yet another call for their favorite cause or to bolster their standing on a given issue.

In this case, it brought the issue of guns to the forefront, where it will be till at least next Wednesday or so. Reaction across the media, beginning with social media, and then going into the traditional media later on was swift. But rather than simply talking about what happened, many people were, only hours later, using it as a calling card to advocate either for more gun rights or stricter gun control, and frankly, to use it at that point for either position is shameless.

I believe that the 2^nd amendment to the constitution guarantees the individual the right to bear arms, but I don’t advocate that position, nor do I believe in shoving my views down the throat of someone who might disagree with me. However some in the media apparently feel that any moment such as that is worthy of their bully pulpit.

Media personalities such as DL Hughley, John Leguizamo, Cher, Roger Ebert and Michael Moore took to the media yesterday to advocate for more gun control as they believed that making the right to bear arms illegal would prevent atrocities such as this. Groups such as the NRA took the opposing view that allowing people to conceal carry would prevent it. Neither position is right, or wholly true.

It is true that people who do carry on their person are able to stop horrible things from happening. Here in the last week there was a case in which an elderly man stopped a robbery at an internet café by shooting the two armed robbers who came in demanding everyone turn over their money to them. He was trained, and knew how to handle his gun so that others wouldn’t be hurt and prevented the robbery.

At the same time, gun laws exist for a reason. John Hinckley, a mentally disturbed man was able to get a gun and attempted to assassinate President Reagan in a warped attempt to win the heart of the actress Jodi Foster. Hinckley wounded Reagan, Secret Service Agent Tim McCarthy, DC Police Officer Thomas Delahanty, and White House Press Secretary James Brady in the attempt. Reagan was surrounded by armed guards who were all packing and yet Hinckley was still able to make the attempt without being shot.

The nature of the attack and the severity of the wounds inflicted to all, but especially to Brady prompted the Brady Bill which was signed into law by President Clinton. It called for background checks and a waiting period before the purchase of a firearm, an action panned by the gun rights individuals but one that I think was appropriate.

However, in spite of all of that, there is one fact that I know will always remain true. If a person is sick in the head, and is bound and determined to inflict harm, pain, and death onto another person, they will find a way to do it. Outlawing guns isn’t going to solve anything, any more than making them easier to get is going to solve anything. If a person is willing to kill, and kill as the Colorado shooter did, making guns illegal isn’t going to stop them. I mean, look at how many people have problems dealing with drugs and addiction in this country even though drugs are illegal. It doesn’t solve anything.

There needs to be regulation, and that regulation should be strictly monitored to at least make it difficult for sickos to get their hands on guns. But people should also be given the resources to defend themselves.

Granted, I believe in the 2^nd amendment, and much of this post comes from that point of view. I make no bones about that. However the problem I have with both points of view can be summed up by one of the early seasons of The West Wing. In the 2^nd season, a character was introduced named Ainsley Hayes who was a Republican hired by the Democratic White House. She and the Rob Lowe character, Sam Seaborn got into a discussion about guns. Naturally, Seaborn took the antigun approach, and Hayes took the pro-gun point of view. But she said something to Seaborn that really struck home with me, and is a problem that both sides of the debate equally share.

Sam Seaborn: But for a brilliant surgical team and two centimeters of a miracle, this guy

[meaning Josh]

Sam Seaborn: is dead right now. From bullets fired from a gun bought legally. They bought guns. They loaded them. They drove from Wheeling to Rosslyn. And until they pulled the trigger, they had yet to commit a crime. I am so off the charts tired of the gun lobby tossing around terms like "personal freedom" and nobody calling them on it. It's not about personal freedom. And it certainly has nothing to do with public safety. It's just that some people like guns.

Ainsley Hayes: Yes they do. But you know what’s more insidious than that? Your gun control position doesn’t have anything to do with public safety and it’s certainly not about personal freedom. It’s about; you don’t like people who do like guns. You don’t like the people. Think about that the next time you make a joke about the South.

It’s true. And it’s something that we all must come to terms with. We can disagree, and we can debate, and when we do, it’s not always one side being right or wrong. It’s possible that both sides can disagree and both be right. But when we start hating each other for what we are, we are no different than those who would do us harm for the same sick reasons.

Remembering Andy Griffith

The man who created one of the iconic characters in the history of American television has passed away. Andy Griffith died today at the age of 86 years old.

I have always had a personal connection to Andy Griffith. I can remember seeing him first, when I was younger, watching reruns of The Andy Griffith Show growing up and being completely immersed into the story, characters and culture. It has been a belief of mine, that I was named after him. My mother told me that she was a fan of the show, and Sheriff Andy Taylor when she was younger. When it came time to name me, she decided to go with the name Andrew. Sure, there are many explanations as to why she settled on that name, but I have always believed that it was due to the connection with the character. Years later, when I asked her about this, she couldn't deny that it may have played a part.

Andy Griffith was a highly versatile performer. His earliest work, a stark difference to what he would later become known for, is evidence of this. One of his earliest roles was the character of Lonesome Rhodes in the Ella Kazan film A Face in the Crowd. In this role, Griffith plays a nobody who is plucked out of oblivion into the television spotlight as the host of a comedy show that takes off nationally. Overnight, he becomes a major success, and lets the fame and fortune go to his head. 

He takes advantage of those around him, and those who care about him, and mocks his fans as worthless sheep clinging onto his every word. When his is exposed publicly, he climbs to the top of a large building in New York City and denounces the world for what he believes is its own ineptitude. It is a powerful moment in film.

In contrast to Sheriff Andy Taylor, Griffith could play villains as well as good guys. One of my favorite television films stars Griffith as a rich landowner in Georgia named John Wallace, who frames one of his sharecroppers for breaking out of jail after stealing one of his cows. He, and his friends, chase this sharecropper over the county line and murder him. They take him back to their own county, and burn the body, so as to not leave any evidence. 

The Sheriff of the other county, Coweta, is Lamar Potts (played by Johnny Cash) who has as much drive and tenacity as Wallace and who, through sheer determination and a bit of luck, finds the evidence needed to convict Wallace and send him to the electric chair. It is an interesting film, and seeing both Griffith and Cash playing roles that one wouldn't normally see them in is what makes it so compelling.

Naturally, I am, still to this day, a fan of Griffith’s iconic role, Sheriff Andy Taylor. Andy Taylor is a role model for any man in this world as to what it takes to be a real man in society. He isn’t perfect (far from it in fact) but his heart, his understanding of human nature, his compassion, and his drive to always look for the good in others in spite of their personal shortcomings is what makes him that role model.

Griffith designed the show early on to make him the center of attention and humor, and the first few episodes reflect this, but quickly he realized that the show would work better if he reacted to those around him instead of the other way. He had the wisdom, and, I believe, lack of major ego to realize this, and the show was better off for it. How many others working today could or would make the same decision?

Two episodes of the show stand out to me today as examples as to why it transcends so much. The first, Opie the Birdman, finds Sheriff Taylor’s youngest son Opie (Ron Howard) firing a slingshot and kills a mother bird. Sheriff Taylor realizes this when he discovers the dead bird later. His punishment for Opie isn’t a spanking or extra chores. Rather, he opens his son’s window and tells him that he needs to listen to the cries of the baby birds that no longer have a mother. This makes a profound impact on Opie and he decides to care for the birds himself. Eventually, they grow, but cannot be cared for anymore, and Taylor convinces Opie to let them fly. It’s a classic moment in television.

The second, and by far my favorite episode of the series was called, Man in a Hurry. In this, we find a businessman traveling through Mayberry on a Sunday, when everything is shut down, and gets car trouble. He is exasperated as he can’t get anyone to fix it on a Sunday. He finally gets Gomer and Goober to do so, but it will take all day, and he is forced to wait at Sheriff Taylors home while the repairs are made. While waiting, he observes the laid back, and slow routine of a Sunday in Mayberry and it has a profound impact on him. At the end of the day, when his car is ready, he decides to stick around and relax a bit.

It’s a lesson that all of us should take to heart. A fast paced lifestyle is nice, and these days almost necessary, but every once in a while we need to take time, slow down, and appreciate small things in life.

Andy Griffith was, and is my favorite performer. He was an actor, comedian, and singer, who made a profound impact on those who had the pleasure to take in his work. He was one of the all-time greats, and one that will be missed.